Primary tabs

Monday, August 11, 2014

August 11| 7:30 | Rockport Opera House | Upstairs | Free and Open to the Public

ARNO MINKKINEN

Arno Rafael Minkkinen is a Finnish American photographer, educator, curator, and writer with over two hundred one-person and group exhibitions at galleries and museums worldwide. Six monographs have been published: Frostbite (Morgan & Morgan, 1978); Waterline (Marval, Aperture, and Otava, 1994), Grand Prix du Livre at the 25th Rencontres d’Arles; Body Land (Motta, Nathan, and the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997–1999); SAGA: The Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen, Thirty-Five Years of Photographs (Chronicle Books, 2005), catalog for the show that traveled from the DeCordova Museum to Eastern Europe, Finland, Italy, China and Canada; Homework: The Finnish Photographs, 1973 to 2008 (Like Publishing, Ltd., 2008), and Balanced Equation (Lodima Press, 2010). Minkkinen’s works are in prominent museum and institutional collections worldwide, for example: in France at the Georges Pompidou Center and Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris; in Finland at the Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma in Helsinki; in Japan at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography; and in America, New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson. He is Professor of Art at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, and Docent at Aalto University of Art, Design, and Architecture in Helsinki. In 1992, the Finnish government conferred the First Class Order of the Lion medal, and in 2006, awarded the Finnish State Art Prize in Photography. Last fall, Minkkinen received the 2013 Lucie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art at ceremonies in New York’s Carnegie Hall.

ELIZABETH OPALENIK

From her earliest days doing advertising and editorial assignments, Elizabeth Opalenik has been hired for the sense of poetic grace and movement she brings to her images. As a fine art photographer Elizabeth now extends that sensibility to philanthropic projects documenting stories in the Amazon and South America for Medical Ministries International on projects concerned with eye care. She is a sought after educator for the sense of wonder and possibility she creates in her students.

Elizabeth’s heart is in her Oakland, California darkroom where she creates unique photographs in the Mordançage process, continuing to pioneer new possibilities with the signature veiled images. Platinum/palladium printing, hand-painting, and other diverse processes including paper making for books and printing remain a focus. From portraits to landscapes, her passion is working with images made involving water. She remains true to creating images in camera, but bridges technology, mixing digital and traditional when appropriate to utilize all the creative possibilities. Elizabeth uses images as stepping stones that trace where the mind has been, believing they reflect the unique vision that each of us carries through life.

Her innovative images are represented, collected and shown internationally and have been profiled in most major photographic publications. For nearly 30 years, she has conducted photography workshops in the United States, France, Italy, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Argentina, privately and in conjunction with The Maine Media Workshops, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, The British Guild of Portrait Photographers, Stanford Continuing Education, The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Les Rencontres d’Arles, National Geographic Expeditions and others.

The school delivers degree and certificate programs, workshops, intensives, and cooperative labs geared to students pursuing creative work in fine arts and media-related professions. MMW+C is a welcoming community that provides lifetime opportunities to explore the practice and concepts of media arts in photography, filmmaking, design and book arts as well as the converging applications of these dynamic media forms. MMW+C embraces historical processes as well as leading-edge technologies in image making and narrative expression. MMW+C is committed to fostering creativity, culture, and human communication in the world.

Maine Media Workshops + College, a registered tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or transgender status, marital status, religion, creed, ancestry, national and ethnic origin, veteran's status, physical, mental handicap or other legally protected classification in any of its policies or procedures – including but not limited to those related to admission, employment, advancement, the provision of educational services, and the granting of financial aid – or in its services, facilities, privileges or benefits in compliance with and to the limits of applicable state and federal laws.